Anyone Can Change
by alyssialui
Summary: Aang visits Azula in her cell. Set after the War.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Aang visits Azula in her cell. I don't know why, but I'm an Azulaang shipper. So here's my first attempt. This may get continued, but for now, take it as it is._

_Submission for:_

_**Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfiction Challenges: **Alphabet Challenge - A - Aang, Azula_

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

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><p>She sat facing the corner of her small metal cell, her arms and legs wrapped securely together and chained behind her back. He hair fell into her face as she leaned forward. It had grown longer now since she had been put in here six months ago, falling down past her hips and under her chin. Her caretakers had tried to cut it, but she just snarled at them. She needed her hair, the only thing that changed about her while she sat in this cell. She needed it to hide away from the world around her.<p>

The world outside was changing. She knew that, and she knew she was no longer a part of that world. That world was heralding a new era of peace. She had never known peace. She had only known war. She was raised to be a weapon of mass-destruction, under the guise of love and affection. She could not fit in that world on the outside.

There was a click behind her but she did not turn. It was probably lunch time now. The guards would put her food down and then just walk away like they usually did. No one wanted to stay with her. No one wanted anything to do with her. If it was up to her, she didn't want anything to do with herself either.

"Azula," a deep voice said from behind her, halting her thoughts.

Though it had finally cracked, she recognized it. It haunted her dreams more than once. "The Avatar has decided to visit me in my humble abode. How honoured am I," she said.

There was no response to her comment, but she heard his light footsteps on the metal floor. "I've come to talk to you," he said softly

"Why?" she asked. "You think you can change me?" His steps stopped and she continued, "Nothing can change me. I am too far gone for any form of retribution. This is where I belong and I have accepted that."

"That's not true, Azula. Anyone can change," the Avatar said.

"Not people like me. Not people like me that were taught how to kill with a single motion. Not people like me who don't flinch at the thought of spilling blood, innocent or otherwise. Outside, peace is now in power so people of war don't belong anymore," she snarled, twisting slightly to look at him.

His eyes were soft and he was unfazed by her aggression. He simply repeated, "Anyone can change."

"Not me!" she shouted again. She had pondered this often in her cell. She was too far gone. She didn't know anything else. She had always been so cunning, so crafty, always two steps ahead. Now she had been left behind. She was lost and it scared her. "No one can help me!" she shouted, desperately trying to rein in the hot, angry tears that threatened to fall.

There was a soft hand on her shoulder and cool voice in her ear. "Anyone can change," he repeated.

She shrugged away from his grasp violently, but the excessive effort threw her to the floor onto her side. The tears flowed freely onto the floor, her sobs sounding ugly to her ears. She could not change. She was beyond hope. Not even the Avatar could help her now.

"Anyone can change," he said finally as he rose from the ground and padded back to the opening of her cell.

She never heard the click of the gate or his footsteps as he left her. Her sobs still sent tremours through her body as she tried to calm down.

**_Anyone can change. _**The Avatar's words rang through her head for hours afterwards. Anyone but me.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Hit with sudden inspiration, I have completed the second chapter. I hope you enjoy. See you whenever I figure out what will happen next._

_Disclaimer: I do not own AtLA._

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><p>She was unsure how long it had been since his first visit, but The Avatar continued to show up outside her cell every day before lunch. He would talk about the outside world, the trees, the birds, all the things she could no longer see within her four white walls. He told her about his friends and her brother and how they were all maturing and continuing on with their lives. Mai and Ty Lee sometimes entered the descriptions but their names simply hung in the air above them before they slipped down the metal corridors. She didn't care to hear about how they were better off with her.<p>

He told her about the progress of the nations' movement towards unification and here, Azula usually bit her tongue. The Avatar was always so righteous, so just. He believed that uniting the nations was the path to peace and that disagreements, older than even the war could be settled with simple discussions. She would let him believe whatever he wanted to believe. He would soon learn the truth for himself.

However, one day everything changed. The footsteps approaching her cell were not calm and light like so had learnt to recognized, but stiff and methodical - military. She turned slightly, looking over her shoulder towards the guard who stood beyond the metal bars.

"Where is the Avatar?" she asked, her voice soft and jagged from disuse.

If the guard was surprised, he didn't show it. He simply said, "The Avatar was unable to come today."

She turned back towards the corner of the wall, and odd feeling blossoming in her chest from the news. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, even long before this whole mess - the feeling of longing and missing something. Without realizing, she had begun to look forward to his visits and his naive hope for change in the world and in her. And today, he wasn't here. He didn't show.

Hot tears trailed down her cheeks as she let her chin fall to her chest, trying desperately to remember his description of the trees and the birds and the sky, the same ones she hadn't cared enough to listen to at the time.

_Anyone can change..._ Maybe some aren't worth changing.


End file.
